Why Renewable Energy is important to Republicans and Democrats

Republicans and Democrats may argue why switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy should be the U.S.’s top priority, but they can’t argue that it should be our top priority.

REPUBLICANS: Reason’s Switching For Switching To Renewable Energy

1. Switching from fossil fuels to solar panels and like renewable energies ends our dependence on foreign oil price gouging.

2. Switching to renewable energy allows us to reduce our military presence in the Middle East, which currently costs us more than $60 billion a year. Source: http://www.brookings.edu/articles/2002/spring_globalenvironment_telhami.aspx

3. Developing renewable energy and spreading our new technology around the world denies hostile foreign states like Iran the profits of their vast oil reserves.

4. Converting to cities powered by renewable energy can create jobs without increasing the deficit. City governments only have to commit the revenues they currently use to maintain our existing infrastructure into transitioning to renewable. Source: ‘The Third Industrial Revolution’ by Jeremy Rifkin.

Democrats: Reason’s For Switching To Renewable Energy

1. Even if 97 percent of the scientific community is wrong and global warming won’t lead to mass extinctions by the end of this century, if they are the slightest bit right about climate change we must act now to convert to renewable energy.

2. 7 billion tons of carbon are currently released into the atmosphere per year. If we do not reduce this amount by a factor of 10 we will experience a chain reaction causing runaway climate change within this century. Source: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/heat/etc/worldco2.html

3. It may already be too late to save the planet, but we must begin to put pressure on our government to take action. We have already seen their utter inability to react to the financial crisis. Now we are facing the possible extinction of life on earth. We must solve this problem. It is to urgent to leave up to our political leaders.

4. By fighting big oil’s lobbyists and switching to renewable energy we can put our country on track to becoming a sustainable society, reducing oil driven war and pollution and putting our country back to work.

A True Bipartisan Issue

We all share this small planet, and its future is in jeopardy. If we want to leave the earth, as we know it, to our children we must address climate change now. When I talk about climate change to people the common complaints I hear are that investing in renewable energy costs too much for the average person, that the problem is too big, or that global warming doesn’t even exist.

Here in Florida I can feel the change in the weather. It is getting warmer as the scientists have suggested. I see the massive droughts and increased storms on the news. But to anyone who wants to argue global warming, all I have to say to you is that we also have oil independence, military gain and political benefits to achieve from switching to renewable energy. If that isn’t enough we might even save the planet.

I Want to Do My Part

This blog is about what I’m doing to switch our country to clean energy. I am a 24 year old college graduate, underemployed and making 12,000 a year. If I can do something we all can. That is why I will continue to write to you. I hope you’ll follow me and write to me also. We will have to work together. We need to start the conversation today.